


Unluckily Lucky

by 9nuymph9



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Bang Chan is Whipped, Chan doesn't know what to do with all those feelings, Hello writer's block how long has it been <3, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Sorry Not Sorry, and he's kinda horny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-02-29 13:44:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18779464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9nuymph9/pseuds/9nuymph9
Summary: Recently, god had decided to burden Chan's life a little bit more. Make it a little bit more fucked up than it already was to begin with. Being an idol was hard but at least Chan wasn't alone in his struggles. He had people who were there for him, went through the same shit as him, people he could share his problems with.But Chan didn't know if his newest problem was something to share with anyone else.ORChan's crush hits him so suddenly and violently like a train on full speed and he doesn't know how to process that





	1. Prolog

Chan couldn't take his eyes off him.

It was weird, really, how during all those trainee years plus that one year since Stray Kids' debut, he hadn't felt anything special towards the only older boy in his group. The Australian didn't remember anything: no interaction, no change in behavior, no change in looks or anything else that might have triggered- whatever was happening to Chan nowadays.

Recently, all of a sudden, god had decided to burden Chan's life a little bit more. Make it a little bit more fucked up than it already was to begin with. Being an idol was hard but at least Chan wasn't alone in his struggles. He had people who were there for him, went through the same shit as him, people he could share his struggle with. But Chan didn't know if his newest _problem_ was something to share with anyone else.

Woojin and Chan had become close rather quickly when the singer had joined JYP as a trainee a little bit over three years ago now. Of course, being the same age was helpful to make Chan feel more comfortable but he liked to think it was more than that, that the two.. just clicked?

Chan had seen Woojin's One Piece phone case when the other went to the center of the training room for his monthly evaluation. One moment later he asked about it saying he enjoyed watching the anime as well and the next thing he knew, the two of them were deep into conversations about their favorite kind of food, their similar taste in music, the difficulties of being a trainee especially for such a long period of time.

At that time, Jisung had joked that the two '97 liners were soulmates but Chan had quickly shaken his head, not feeling anything but platonic favor for the other. Not even two months later and Woojin had joined Chan, Changbin and Jisung when it was decided that 3racha would become part of a K-Pop group rather than a Hip-Hop unit and soon enough the other five members, Hyunjin, Seungmin, Felix, Minho and Jeongin filled their place as well.

Despite complementing each other so well, Woojin and Chan were never more than good same age friends, even if some fans thought ( _hoped_ ) otherwise. With nine members almost constantly filling each others lives there were times when Chan didn't even get to see the oldest outside of their dance studio, Woojin, Seungmin and Jeongin usually taking vocal lessons, Hyunjin, Felix and Minho working on choreographies and the rapper trio practically living in front of their laptops in the recording studio and only coming home when the others were already asleep.

Of course the almost constant split-ups had bothered Chan. They were all his friends, his new family even. Of course he wanted to be up to date on _all of them_ , didn't want the other six members to feel like he wasn't there for them. Obviously it had never only been about Woojin and why would it anyway, when the oldest Stray Kids member seemed to have everything under control, even the other boys when Chan wasn't around to keep an eye on them.

Woojin wasn't someone who needed constant supervision, he was the one that _gave_ it as the father figure he turned out to be. Naturally, there were times when the oldest Stray Kids member had fears and felt down like everyone else did too, but he did not need Chan for that, not always at least. Ironically enough Chan had figured that out during the group's survival game when Woojin began to open up more to Changbin, Jisung or even Felix and even after Stray Kids legendary debut and more months and months passing by, that didn't change much.

Woojin and Chan still found time once or twice a week to watch anime together and talk and lean on each others shoulders but there wasn't much more than that, not that they felt like they needed it. Not that Chan needed it at least. He was content the way they were. Woojin seemed more than content too. Listened to the smaller when the other needed to vent but also distracting him when needed and also the other way around sometimes.

Everything was perfect, the calm in the storm.

Until recently that is.

 


	2. 1st Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan let's out a snort, shaking his head but feeling his dimple deepen with the force of his smile, more amused than he should be but how can he not when the man in front of him is wearing that ridiculously bright grin that makes his bright eyes crinkle and shows his front teeth, makes him look so cute and oh so attractive- it's the best to stop here, Chan decides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I was on a roll today since I watched WooChan's full live stream from yesterday again. Looking at those two cute dumbasses motivated me enough to write down the actual first chapter in less than two hours (even if I normally take at least 5, urgh, English can be hard sometimes)  
> So, yeah, let's enjoy some troubled Chan drama

“Maybe we should... take a break?” Minho eyed Chan warily and the blonde knew that the comment was most likely directed at him. He knew he was making mistakes, that his moves were a bit sloppy due to not paying enough attention. Some of the other members were having trouble with the new choreography as well though so it wasn't too obvious. Besides, you know, the fact that Chan _never_  made mistakes and was normally _always_ on full attention during practice.

“Are you OK, Hyung? You seem a little out of it.” With an ungraceful grunt, Felix flopped down next to Chan, leaning his head on the others shoulder. Chan struggled to peel his eyes off what he had stared at the other side of the room, eyebrows furrowed in a confused frown.

“It's... nothing. Really. Nothing...” He answered in English his voice not louder than a murmur when he added: “But.. don't you think- I mean- Don't you think Woojin's pants are a little bit too tight today?” Felix was visibly surprised by the others remark but before he could say anything to answer, Chan was already standing up. The heat traveling up Chan's neck and ears did nothing to alleviate his sudden panic. “You know what? Please forget I said anything.” And to the rest of the members, he spoke in a louder voice, in Korean this time. “Let's finish this up! We already recorded our Intro for the Golden Disk Awards and I can see that you're all getting tired. Recording Bang Bang Bang cannot be too difficult and afterwards, I'm going to serve you all with some delivery at home. Pizza? Chicken? How does that sound, huh?”

With a lot more enthusiasm than before, everyone stepped into position to finally film their end performance. Felix wordlessly followed, though his eyes were still on Chan even when the music started.

 

If Chan had hoped that Felix would let his stupid slip up slide, he would be disappointed.

They were all done and tired for the day (night), about to head home in two vans as per usual, when Felix slid next to him in the back seat. In front of them, Jisung and Minho huddled together like a couple of koalas and Hyunjin slid next to Felix, airpods in his hears and music playing a little bit too loud to be healthy. Chan didn't point it out this time though, glad that the taller would most likely not hear Felix and his conversation that way. He already kind of saw it coming the way Felix' eyebrows kept knitting together.

“Are you OK?” It wasn't unusual for the two to talk in English, no one really minded it anyway, except for Minho who always felt like they were forging a plan to revenge all the pranks the dancer had played on them in the past or something. Paranoid bastard. A small smile tugged at Chan's lips at the thought.

The darkness outside the car's windows was only broken by a few colorful street signs and street lamps. The continuity of never-ending twilight lured Stray Kids' leader into a drowsiness he hadn't felt in days, always working, always writing, always trying to keep his attention on full alert.

“I- I don't know. I really don't know what's going on inside of me right now.” The answer eventually came.

“Did you two fight? I mean you and Woojin...”

That was certainly not what he had expected to be Felix conclusion. Chan's face must have shown his bewilderment because Felix backpedaled immediately. Shrugging, a snort leaving his mouth, still confused but amused.

“It's just. You were so out of it today. It's been like that since the beginning of the week, to be honest. And the comment you made earlier.” The younger Australian's eyes searched around the van as he tried to find the right words “Normally you wouldn't get irritated over such small things like someone wearing too tight pants or whatever. I mean were you even angry at him for wearing those? You seemed... upset? Or shocked? I don't know honestly.”

What was Felix even talking about?

“Remember when Changbin and you had that argument last year? You two didn't fully talk it out and spend the next week trying to find the smallest errors or mistakes in each other's doing just to prove a point. It was honestly so exhausting.” Chan did NOT do that, thank you very much. He was a mature and reasonable adult. Either way, through Felix' explanation Chan finally began to understand what the '00 liner was talking about.

“Changbin was so frustrated but didn't know how to approach you- god I felt so bad and frustrated too-”

“Is this about me or Binnie?” Felix just threw him a dirty look but started grinning when Chan laughed at his expression. “Whatever, dude. I was just trying to help-”

“Woojinnie and I didn't have an argument, Lix. Don't worry.” Chan cut him off, pulling the others head on his shoulder again. “As I said. I am not sure what's going on with me either. Guess I have to figure that out myself first before talking to you about it.”

That was about as much of an answer as Felix would get so the freckled boy just sighed in defeat but did not try to push it further.

 

What the older had said, wasn't a complete lie at least.

Chan truly didn't know what was happening to him. But he also kind of was. He watched enough K-Drama's when he was younger and he wasn't naive for fuck's sake! He knew that this deep warmth inside his stomach, inside his chest, was more serious than he first made it out to be.

You see. This wasn't the first time during this week, that Woojin's pants were a little bit too snug.. Not that that was any better than the times when they were the complete opposite, too wide, riding a little bit too low on his hips for example, or riding _too high, god damn it that surely doesn't leave much to the imagination_.

And the pants weren't the only problem Chan had to deal with on a daily basis even though they were definitely the worst next to the high pitched laughs that rang through the dorm whenever Woojin and Seungmin watched that weird variety show where contestants tumbled over each other to run through some kind of labyrinth solving traps and quizzes. Now that he mulled it over, maybe that particular laugh _was_ actually the worst of Chan's problems. It made his heart do a lot more different things from what a slip of Woojin's tanned skin could do.

 

When Stray Kids arrived at their shared dorm, everyone scrambled through the door in an attempt to reach the bathroom first. The two oldest plus Seungmin who was dragging an already sleepy Maknae strolled in last, not really in the mood or condition to argue about their fair share of warm water. With Seungmin going straight for Jeongin and Jisung's shared room to put the youngest down, Woojin and Chan are left standing in the corridor watching the chaos unfold in front of them.

It was normal for the members to shower together sometimes when time and hot water were running out or the boys were simply too tired to care. As it looked like right now, the boys had decided to go in duos today. Jisung turned towards their oldest members, having lost the game of rock-paper-scissors and so having to go last.

Chan felt relief flood his veins. He was the last to have any problem with seeing or showing or touching the skin of people he was close to and for the longest time, his behavior of showering or sleeping together with other trainees slash members did not exclude Woojin. Granted they were never really comfortable together in the same shower space since they always smashed their elbows and shoulders together or stepped on each other's toes (maybe they didn't fit together as well as the Australian had hoped), but especially after Chan realized a few days ago, how his mindset and body started to react to the taller one he brought their “intimacy” if you wanted to call it that, to a sudden stop.

Jumping at the opportunity to not stand so close under the water with a very much naked Woojin, Chan made a step to the front already opening his mouth to pair up with the young rapper but was rudely cut off by Seungmin sprinting towards Jisung with his pajamas in hand.

“I call dibs! I will definitely not be the last one in the shower, thank you!” _Well shit._

Next to him, Woojin chuckled shaking his head slightly at the others antiques.

“Guess we are on our own then Channie.” Wrapping a strong arm around the slightly shorter male, Woojin pulled him to the left, away from the noises and Changbin running around in the living room searching for his “-favorite pair of socks, has anyone seen my favorite pair of socks? The blue ones with the sun and moon print? Jisung I swear to every god up there if I find them in your drawer again I'm gonna skin you- Oh there they are, no worries they were under the sofa.”

The blonde haired Australian sinks on one of the kitchen stools rubbing his temple but not quite hiding the amused grin at the bickering of his friends. Woojin lets out a laugh too, not as high as the laugh that he lets out when he finds something hilarious or when he's surprised, this snicker is a little bit deeper, quieter but it fills Chan with just as much warmth. Jesus Christ help him, can't there be a second without Chan having to pull himself together over his stupid feelings?!

“What do you think we should order today?” Woojin's voice fills the comfortable silence. “We have a schedule tomorrow so better not any fast food this time?” Both of them flick through several delivery service menus that hung on the fridge.

“How about some _Mandoo guk_? _Galbi tang_? (A.N: beef stew/beef rib stew).... We also need some,” There is a short pause and when Chan looks up and meets Woojin's stare, the other's eyes are sparkling in delight, “We also need some- _Bangchan_. Bangchan- Oh pardon me, I meant _Banchan_  makes the dishes even more delicious.”

And really, Chan knows it's lame. He had stopped counting how many people have already made this joke, heck, who knows how many times Woojin alone has made that joke before. But both of them are suckers for lame dad jokes to the chagrin of everyone else around them.

Chan let's out a snort, shaking his head but feeling his dimple deepen with the force of his smile, more amused than he should be but how can he not when the man in front of him is wearing that ridiculously bright grin that makes his bright eyes crinkle and shows his front teeth, makes him look so cute and oh so attractive- it's the best to stop here, Chan decides.

“Yeah- yeah. Let's get some _Galbi tang, Mandoo guk_ and a Banchan (A.N: side dishes) some vegetable and shrimp spring rolls.” He reaches for the phone to dial the restaurant's number as Minho, who by the looks of it got into the shower first because he's still dripping wet and only sports a towel around his hip, strolls into the kitchen to inform them that the group is going to watch a Ghibli movie for dinner.

 

 


	3. 2nd Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'I should have gone showering.'  
> Chan looks at his phone for the nth time since he slipped under the bed sheets. It has barely been an hour and the leader itches to do something, anything other than laying around in his own greasiness and contemplating every life choice he ever made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! Kind of explicit concent at the end, read this ONLY if you're comfortable with, well, make outs? Also a lot more swearing, sooo...

Most of the members are so engrossed in the movie that by the time the food arrives, the rest of the showers were long forgotten. Hyunjin had succeeded to persuade everyone to watch _'The Red Turtle'_ since it was the only Ghibli movie that the group hadn't yet seen. Halfway through the movie, though, Chan wished they had just kept it at that. He didn't cry that easily, especially not over fictional stuff but today was not his lucky day, it seemed. There was just something about the movie that hit home with him.

And that's how he ends up sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch between Jisung's legs and tries not to sniff too loudly as the waves crash down on the island's forest and inhabitants. Just a second ago everything had been so peaceful and now...

Felix lets out his third frustrated groan since the movie started, complaining about wanting to just protect the main characters from all unfortunate events happening right now and about how lonely they still looked even if they have one another and- that's the moment Changbin just claps a hand over the blonde's mouth, clearly too absorbed in the film to care about Felix protective instinct for god damn cartoon characters.

A foot nudges Chan's hip. Woojin is sitting down next to him after his trip to the kitchen, having cleared out the paper and plastic containers the food was delivered in. He shuffles around with a soft smile and slings an arm around the other's slightly broader frame, rubbing the smaller male's shoulder as a motion of comfort. “Don't be sad, the family will be fine. I'm sure.” The whisper is followed by several hushes and 'shhh' around the room but Woojin only rolls his eyes good naturally as he pulls his arm back and gives Chan a little more room between them.

For a few minutes, there is only silence again. As Chan's looking around, it's obvious that all of the others are otherwise occupied with either watching the movie, cuddling, dozing off or all of the above. Jisung has his head on Minho's lap and Jeongin and Felix are huddled together on the single sofa like a pair of apes. Chan decides to be a little more confident then too.

Leaning into Woojin feels natural, like Chan belongs there and putting the other's arm around his shoulders like before feels like the blanket that Chan wishes he always had around him when sleep paralysis hits. A content sigh escapes his lips. There is a tense second where the older stiffs and the Australian feels like he has crossed some invisible line that he had no knowledge of but then the arm around him relaxes and Chan can feel Woojin leaning unto him as well and he couldn't feel more at ease even with the island in the movie getting half destroyed by the merciless ocean.

 

“I'm beat.” Jisung stretches himself, standing up from the couch first. Everyone that hasn't actually fallen asleep during their movie night is pushing themselves up with more or less enthusiasm.

Chan had succeeded to shoo everyone to their rooms after brushing teeth when Woojin holds him back from entering his own room. He has this ever-present smile tugged on since this morning and combined with his sleepy and only half open eyes, the teddy bear impression is making Chan twitch to just poke his cheeks or pat his hair or something. But he stands strong if still confused as Woojin motions to the bathroom. “The shower is free now, we should go fast, my goal is to have you sleep 8 hours at least one night a week and tonight is D-Day.” So the oldest hadn't forgotten their shower arrangements. What now?

“No- I mean yeah. I guess you're right, I should get as much sleep as I can. I will just shower tomorrow morning but you can go ahead now if you want.” That makes the other let go of the hem of Chan's over-sized black shirt. Woojin opens his mouth like he wants to argue and really, he has every right to. The Australian knows himself that it's not the best idea to let all the sweat from practice sink into his skin like that. He also shouldn't smell too nice but it's not like Woojin cared before when they were _almost cuddling_ at the couch earlier.

“I guess.” A shrug and Woojin takes a step back. “Good night Channie. Promise me you are going straight to bed, OK? And take a hot shower tomorrow morning.” His smile is still on, still as soft-spoken as Chan pinky promises him and they share a last 'Goodnight' and 'Sleep well' before departing.

 

_'I should have gone showering.'_

Chan looks at his phone for the nth time since he slipped under the bed sheets. It has barely been an hour and the leader itches to do something, anything other than laying around in his own greasiness and contemplating every life choice he ever made.

It's only 1 am. He could easily squeeze in one or two hours of listening over the current draft of a song that he plans on making Stray Kids' newest title track. But. No. Chan wraps his hands together to make them stop fidgeting. He promised Woojin to get 8 hours of shut-eye, he pinky promised, god damn it.

After some more tossing and turning he decides that no use, he's just going to take a quick shower and then see in which mood the warm water gets him.

Tiptoeing out of his shared room with Minho, Hyunjin and Seungmin is easy enough and patting past the other rooms to the bathroom isn't much trouble either, Felix' snores most likely overshadowing the rustling of socks on the parquet floor.

Chan makes quick work of his clothes and jumps into the shower cabin. It's still wet and cold from the previous showers but the warm water that greets Chan's tense shoulders as he turns on the tab is instantly relaxing his muscles and mind. The blonde is so out of it that the clicking of the shower doors as they open and close behind him don't alert him until a pair of strong, tanned arms are wrapped around his middle, making him jerk and hit his elbow on the tiled walls. “Ouch!”

“I thought you wanted to shower in the morning?” Woojin's voice is rough and a lot deeper as he most likely slept till now, though as Chan slowly turns around in the other man's hold, Woojin's hair looks like he just came out of the styling room and his eyes are big, fixed on the smaller with 100% of his attention.

Why was the slightly older in the shower with him? Hadn't he showered without him already? And how did he get in here anyway, Chan vaguely remembers locking the door, or did he not? But all those questions die in his throat the second their eyes meet.

“Be honest. You just don't want to shower with me is that it?” There was sadness, among other more complicated emotions that Chan did not dare to read yet, behind those chocolate brown eyes. Guilt was creeping up his spine like an ugly, terrifying monster that only waited for the right moment to crawl from under the Australian's bed.

“Am I that repulsive to you that you can't even look at me up close?” Something in the taller boy's tone changed at that. The two oldest had similar talks like this in the past, when Woojin felt like a burden, like he was dragging the group down, not because of his lack of talent (Which? What? Where does someone as talented as him even get that idea?!) but because of his visuals, or as Woojin so often jokes, his lack thereof.

It's ridiculous, really, but not a single soul has so far been able to fully convince Woojin otherwise. The older boy's time at SM entertainment had truly taken a toll on him. And how could it not if you believed all the rumors as to what went down behind closed doors and even if you 'only' looked at every single artist SM ever debuted. Chan didn't want to be another one of those toxic voices in Woojin's head. He wanted to be a support. But now he just did the complete opposite because of his own selfish reasons. Woojin was worth so much more than he could give him.

Chan was backed against the wall, all the water from the shower head now rattling down on Woojin's hair and shoulders. Chan wanted to say something, wanted to clarify that it was anything but what the other assumed, but the lump in his throat was thick. He swallowed a few times, looking down to gather his thoughts, the taller just took that as an agreement.

“I see.” But instead of stepping away, Woojin took the last step that was between them and Chan cursed himself for looking down as the other's naked body was now on full display just in front of him. Oh no. No. No. No. Bad. This is so bad. The tickling in his groin was definitely not appreciated right now!

Their arms touch as Woojin caged Chan with both his hands on either side of the other's bleached curls. Their toes touch at how close they stood in front of each other, nothing between them, not even a single layer of cloth. Every muscle in Chan's body was tensed as he watched in pure horror as his lower body showed the reaction that he had feared the most. And of course he wasn't the only one who noticed.

Woojin didn't say anything but his sudden silence and his stare were so intense it said just as much. His right hand, were it had laid on Chan's shoulder before, began to graze down, fingertips slightly brushing Chan's chest and down, down, down his abs and even lower till it stopped at the prominent V-line just above- Chan gulped audibly.

If only his mouth would work for a damn second or even just his legs, so he could flee from that humiliating situation. As if it wasn't already embarrassing enough to get hard in front of your teammate, your friend... But also with both of you being completely naked and so, so close to each other, this was bound to haunt Chan all his life and hell, if it wouldn't make things extremely awkward.

The blonde would never be able to look into Woojin's eyes ever again or stand in front of him, or even be near him! He didn't even dare to look up now, the older male's eyes were most likely spewing disgust or irritation. But why had Woojin stepped so close then? Why was his hand where it was, only centimeters away from Chan's obvious hard on.

“I guess... I'm not that repulsive after all, huh.”

“N- No.” _Finally_. Chan's voice was not more than a high pitched squeak but at least it was _something._ He would very much favor sacrificing his own dignity if it meant for Woojin to finally see what (positive) effect he could have on others, even if Chan may be a special case.

And if that whole situation wasn't making Chan freak out even more, he couldn't hold in the surprised gasp that escaped his mouth and quickly turned into a moan the moment Woojin was pushing himself against the younger, their hips connecting. Every warning bell in Chan's head was going off. This was not happening right now! Was his first thought. Oh god, this is really happening?! Was his second.

Woojin's right hand made it's way to the small of Chan's back, only pulling him in more till not even a sheet of paper could fit between their bodies. The movement tickled a little with how calloused the other's fingertips were from all the guitar playing and Chan could not do anything but just blossom in the friction and the fact Kim fucking Woojin had started _grinding_ against him, face now pressing into the junction of Chan's neck and nibbling at the sensitive skin and _moaning_ his name, _moaning Christopher Bang Chan's name_ like a prayer to god. Oh god. Oh god, what the hell was even happening?! This had to be a dream.

Woojin's left hand was gripping into Chan's shoulder, hard. “W- Woojin.” Maybe that's the moment Woojin should stop spending so much time in the gym, he was clearly about to crush Chan's bones. But his other hand was on Chan's ass so the Australian decided to live with a little shoulder crushing.

Any type of self-control or second thoughts were thrown out the window the moment Chan realized how good having someone tangle themselves around you felt like. This significant someone in particular. Woojin looked up from where he had kissed Chan's collar bones, his pupils blown wide and grinning even as his whole face and chest were blushing.

“Chan.” His voice sounded kind of distant but maybe that was because of the bathroom's echo. Woojin came closer and closer, his nose brushes lovingly against the other man's despite their angry, desperate tugging and pushing at each other. They kissed then, Chan pulling Woojin in first and not letting his hands untangle from the other's hair even as they parted a moment later to gasp for some air.

“Hyung!” OK, now that was weird. Chan closed his eyes as a droplet of water fell into his eye. The body in his arms removed itself from him and Chan whined a little.

“Hyung for fuck's sake, wake up or I'm going to call Minho Hyung!” When Chan opened his eyes again, the bathroom light was a lot less blueish and a lot warmer all of a sudden... A lot dryer too, no cold tiles against his back and water drops tickling his skin.

And no more skin against his or the distinctive smell of _Woojin_ that surrounded Chan a few seconds ago. The grip around his shoulder was still there though and Chan shook the sensation off as he sat up from his bed. Well, he was certainly not in the shower cabin anymore, no doubt.

“Guys! Are you getting ready? We have to be out the door in 40 so better hurry-” Woojin popped his head into the bedroom to see Seungmin trying to pry Stray Kids' leader out of bed. Emphasis laying on 'trying' as Chan just sat there with a distant look in his eyes. The moment Chan looked up at Woojin and the 22-year-old just send him a reassuring smile, the Australian was instantly back into the real world, rubbing his eyes frantically.

“I still stand at what I said, Channie, so no acting cute to get out of it. 40 minutes. So get out of bed and shower already, I will try to hold some breakfast back for you. Oh-” Woojin was almost out the door again before turning around with a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “And take care of that morning wood, sailor.” Then he closes the door.

 

“Soo... Woojin Hyung, huh.” Seungmin waited till he heard Woojin yell at Jeongin to put his clothes on properly before turning to Chan again, eyes glinting like he just found out a secret no one was supposed to know about. “It's not half as surprising now that I think about it but still, Hyung... Didn't know grandpa's still had _wet dreams_. Gross.”

Chan choked on his own spit, looking at the Dandy boy with wide eyes. How did he-

“You literally moaned his name the moment I grabbed your shoulder to shake you awake and.. that.” The younger pointed discreetly at the tent between Chan's legs that was even visible with the blanket thrown over. “So. Uhm. Yeah. I'm definitely traumatized for life so thanks for that.”

“....”

“At least I'm prepared for the worst now.”

“...”

“Hyung? You still there?” He said the last sentence in English which managed to pull Chan from his thoughts.

The older looked at Seungmin with both utter embarrassment and defeat. “I just had a wet dream about Woojin.” Seungmin rolled his eyes, the tips of his ears glowing red as he stood up and exited the room with one last warning look and then leaving Chan with his realization.

 

_'Take care of that morning wood, sailor.'_

Oh dear God.


	4. 3rd Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stupid lie detector, he has no business exposing Chan like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry the chapters are so short :((  
> but I want to update as often as I can as this is going to take a while to finish anyway so please don't hate me for plotless chapters and story fillers such as this one

A few minutes and almost half an hour of _showering_ later, Chan deemed himself presentable enough to show his still sleepy self in front of the other members. Most of them sat on the couches in the living room, only greeting him briefly and informing him that his breakfast was sitting on the kitchen table. They knew better than to try to keep a longer conversation with a sleep-deprived leader without his morning coffee.

Hyunjin and Jisung weren't as warily as the others as they send Chan broad smiles when he shuffled into the kitchen. “Morning Hyung, hope you slept well this time?”

The Australians head shot up in alarm. Had Seungmin told the others after all?

At the innocent looks of the two 18-year-old boys, though, his body relaxed a little. No way. If Seungmin really had blabbed, the whole dorm would have turned a lot more uncomfortable the moment their leader had shown his face. And Woojin wouldn't have smiled at him too, as Chan walked by his seat on the single sofa next to the TV a moment ago.

Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, Chan sank unto the chair nearest to him. “I hope it hasn't gotten cold yet.” Jisung worried as he pushed the plate with simple toast and eggs towards the older. He got a shake of the head in return as Chan engulfed everything in a matter of seconds.

The morning wasn't as hectic as Chan had feared. Stray Kids' leader was glad that even without his coordination, the members were always able to take on the day without any troubles and too much chaos, though there was never a morning without at least one of them making everybody else wait. Ironically enough, even today, it wasn't (only) Chan who made the manager, who's turn it was to pick them up, tap their foot in mild irritation.

Changbin took his sweet time in the bathroom when Chan strolled in to brush his teeth before heading out. His mop of black hair was still a little damp but he took priority to the stubble around his chin that had grown in the last few days, only throwing the blonde a distracted 'Good morning, Hyung' with his concentration still on the razor at hand.

The two finished together and went out to the living room where the other seven members of their group were waiting more or less enthusiastic to be finally leaving. Seungmin and Jeongin stood around on their phones scrolling through what was most likely SNS. Felix, Jisung and Minho were chatting on the floor with each an empty cup of what had been hot chocolate and tea in their hands and Woojin was listening to their banter munching on desiccated mango stripes. Hyunjin was leaning against their manager's tall frame, a glint in his eyes as he showed the other his recent MC appearance on The Show.

“There you two are. Finally!” Woojin, who was sitting closest to the bathroom stood up and threw the empty bag away before coming behind Chan and Changbin again and pushing them out the door without much trouble as both of the smaller men struggled against his arms. It was like Finding Stray Kids Episode 1 all over again, Chan thought out loud as everyone laughed.

Back in the van that could sport all ten of them, Chan finally shrugged his bomber jacket on and tied his shoes since he hadn't been able to do that properly before they were all ushered out the building.

The only older boy in the group was sitting next to him with an arm around the other male's shoulder as Seungmin took a photo of the group, them included.

Woojin smelled nice today. With a smile, Chan recognized that the taller was wearing the perfume that the Australian had only bought him some days ago.

Jeongin and Chan had been shopping downtown and while Jeongin was searching for some specific deodorant he was wearing for as long as the others had known him, Chan had snooped around the 'perfume section for men' to maybe find something nice for himself while they were at it. One scent in particular grabbed his attention. It had a woody, vanilla scent, definitely strong but not overpowering and the fragrance was just so _Woojin_ that Chan had bought the (quite expensive) bottle without a second thought.

Yes, Woojin was more of coniferous forest and citrus kinda guy, judging by the at least ten different perfumes and deodorants he owned. But, and Chan doesn't even want to think too much about why he knows that so clearly, the pure 'Woojin smell', the one without any other fragrances layering over it, wasn't too fruity. It was mild, warm and summery. The 21-year-old found it impossible to put a name on it but the closest thing that Woojin's smell reminded him of, could be freshly washed laundry or the smell of Chan's wardrobe one time he had hidden in it as a kid while playing hide and seek.

It was the smell Chan associated with home, his second home. The one that Chan got to smell a few times when the duo laid in bed together back in the day when they had all just been trainees, or what he got to smell even these days when everyone huddles up together on the floor of the living room after coming back from vocal practice, showering without shampoo because they hadn't sweat but still didn't feel that _crisp,_ as Felix likes to call it, either.

Either way, before anyone saw the way their leader was now not so subtly sniffing down Woojin's neck, Chan quickly turned his head and his thoughts away. Because of that movement, the older's arm fell off his shoulders and Chan had to bite down his disappointment as he turned his attention back to the conversations around him.

Mission: 'Stop thirsting over your teammate' was being way more difficult to accomplish than first anticipated. Moreover, thinking back to this night's dream, this whole situation had gone _downhill_ a lot faster than first anticipated. The blonde was just glad that it had been just that, a dream. If this would have actually happened in real life it would have been- _Quite nice, actually, just imagine if you two actually got together like that-_ No! It would be way too embarrassing to even think about! Chan tried to silence the unhelpful voice in his head.

“What would be way too embarrassing, Channie?” Asked one let out a shriek as Woojin's face popped into view, a worried expression clouding his usually smiling face. “N- Nothing.” Chan couldn't keep eye contact for long, instead opting to let his gaze roam around the car.

“You didn't sleep well, did you?” It was obviously a trick question, the 21 year old didn't even have to face Woojin to hear the challenge in the other boy's voice, “I told you to go to bed early but I bet you were just working until sunrise, _yet again_ , that's why you looked so out of it this morning.” Chan wanted to answer but the words got stuck in his throat, his eyes still staring up front where Felix and Seungmin were turned back to converse with Jeongin and Minho. When Chan's gaze landed on Seungmin, the '00 liner was looking straight back at him, his face unreadable as his eyes flew back between the two oldest of the group.

The younger boy knew about Chan's... _dream,_ and also about who it was about. It seemed like he didn't tell anyone (yet) but Chan was ashamed enough with only one person knowing.

Seungmin wasn't judging Chan for liking men as much as he liked women even if Seungmin himself didn't tick that way, Chan was more than sure of that. Stray Kids had already established their openness towards sexuality and loving whoever the fuck you wanted to love, long before their debut. Hell, they had settled that acceptance even before Jisung and Hyunjin had started accepting _each other_.

But one member being interested in another member was way more complicated than that and as the leader, Chan wanted to be the last person to make their group and rising popularity suffer just because his horny teenage years were coming back to him. Godforsaken Kim Woojin with his big hands, golden skin, rock hard thighs and- fuck the blonde's mind for always going into overdrive whenever the slightly older was involved.

When Chan was finally able to break eye contact with the second youngest and look back at Woojin, the later had leaned away already about to put his earphones in. His thick eyebrows were still furrowed but his face otherwise neutral as he watched the outside bled into a rainbow palette of colors. His mouth was slightly pouting as if something was annoying him, most definitely because something, or rather, _someone,_ aka Bang Christopher Chan, was.

Chan felt a little guilty for avoiding Woojin so much lately, avoiding his touch when it felt a little too intimate for him or a little too domestic, avoiding Woojin's questions that always hit a little deeper than the Australian could handle. But the oldest had always been too good at reading him, sometimes even better than Jisung and Changbin who Chan considered his best friends.

Chan grabbed the left earpiece out of Woojin's fingers before the taller could react and plugs it into his own left ear with a giddy smile. The other just sends him an eye roll in return but turned back to Chan anyway, tugging Chan's head on his shoulder and keeping it there even as Chan struggles and splutters, his cheeks turning a rosy color at being manhandled like that before finally giving up and just making himself comfortable against his shoulder.

 

Stray Kids has a photoshoot in the morning. The shooting goes well enough for the whole crew to finish a lot earlier than expected and the group decides to have an impromptu V Live since their poor fans hadn't seen anything from them since _yesterday_.

Chan wanted to join but flakes out immediately after sinking into the soft cushions of the sofa only to wake up to gentle hands prying away the strands of hair from his eyelashes. He is glad he hold back the name forming on his lips the moment he opens his eyes fully and recognizes Changbin's characteristic chin above him instead of Woojin's broader features. That would've been awkward, saying a certain name in his sleep for the second time that day. As soon a the young rapper above him sees his Hyung's eyes open he informs him of their soon departure to the location where Stray Kids' “game interview” will take place at 2 pm and the two producers scramble to pack up their stuff.

The interview doesn't hold any unwanted surprises either. As Stray Kids' leader, Chan always fears weird or inappropriate questions and how to dodge them but so far all of the interviews have been pleasant and the interviewers nice and considerate.

This lady is very charming too and the questions she playfully throws at them are something new altogether, in a positive way of course. They laugh a couple of times, Jisung almost falling off his chair once, clapping like a seal. The people in charge of this interview clearly did their research.

“OK, so you all have tried this before, I know, but it's a classic.” Bringing forward something that the group has had to experience several times throughout their short idol careers, the interviewer wiggles her eyebrows at the group's equally enthusiastic and horrified expressions. The questions go back and forth even though they purposely skip Minho a few times, knowing how much he truly loathes and dreads the devil's device.

When the lie detector lands on Chan again, he calmly lays his hand down. It reacts to quickening or unsteady heart beats so feeling calm is the key. So far, he had been able to fool the device a few times, always getting a high pitched 'ding' instead of buzzing, hopefully, this will work a last time as well.

“This is for the leader of Stray Kids so you guys know I just had to ask this for our STAY's curiosity too.” Chan nods as the others around him look between the woman and him expectant.

“STAY see you as a father of seven kids, isn't that sweet?” The interviewer says conversationally as she prepares him for the question she wants to ask, Chan already has a feeling of what kind of question he's going to get but goes with the flow easily.

“Eight. We're nine in total.” He corrects still smiling at her and she smiles back shaking her head slightly “Yeah, but the group has two dads, Woojin is your co-parent as far as STAY's are concerned, am I right Woojin?” Said one lays a hand on the Australian's shoulder and giggles as he nods. “They are all our kids!” Everyone laughs at that, Chan too but he can't fight the slightly fluttering in his chest.

 _Buzz._ Chan whips his hand in the air, the lie detector flying across the room and Chan can hear Felix groaning where the younger is sat behind him. “Ow, Hyung.” The freckled boy rubs his nose even if the blonde's hand had only brushed it by accident.

“Already getting nervous I see.” Standing up and retrieving the device, the middle-aged lady deems it still working and places it on Chan's thigh, to lay his right hand on again. Stupid lie detector, he has no business exposing Chan like that.

“Do you love all your children equally, Mr. father-of-seven-children and a husband-of-another.”

“Of course!”

_Buzz._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, guys and girls, now I will try to add a little plot into this bc so far there isn't anything plot-worthy going on is it? I'm still not quite sure how make this story go but I feel like this is definitely going to be a slow burn... or maybe it just feels like it because of how little I update but well, we have to see where this is going
> 
> pls tell me how you liked it so far in the comments. Maybe you will even have some cute ideas on how to work from here and what cute or embarrassing or whatever Chan is going to face with his crush? Pls let me know!


	5. 4th Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if the next comeback was a flop?  
> What if the fans didn't like MIROH at all?  
> What if the members weren't satisfied with the line distribution?  
> What if Chan disappointed all of them?  
> …  
> What if Chan never got over his crush on Woojin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too proud of this one tbh with you guys... I haven't had much inspiration to either write or draw for months but especially since the whole iKON/B.I "fiasco" I've just been so frustrated with how YG handled things, it took all my motivation...  
> I hope things will get better in the future! :( I have so many projects started, I have one really big WooChan fic that I've written everything out for and just need to write the actual sentences down, I've also wanted to spice my fics up a bit and draw a little sketch to all my stories but my art block is not helping and well, TO SUM IT UP this may take a while but please bear with me

“Hyung, I don't know what your problem is sometimes?” Jisung looks up from his notebook in surprise, slowly as if he didn't want to set anything off, his eyes travel back and forth between his two older bandmates. Chan himself was taken by surprise by Changbin's words too, as he didn't know why the other was being so harsh all of the sudden.

“What?”

Changbin rolled his eyes. His chair was fully turned in the older man's direction as he crossed his arms over his chest, repeating the sentence.

“Let's just go home!” He continued after. “The title song was approved, that's all we asked for, that's like... 40% of the comeback prepared! We have all the songs of the album ready to be recorded, everything nodded off, there's literally nothing more we can do right now.” Changbin's tone wasn't exactly patronizing, but the Australian still felt something like annoyance prickle in his stomach, though he swallowed it down because, yes. Like always, his younger rapper friend was indeed right.

Today, their main producer had sent 3Racha their demo files back, all with positive feedback. No words anymore, about what could've been better or could be changed a little. To summarize it, all seven songs plus 'Mixtape #4', were ready to be recorded in the next two days, which was good. Obviously.

So why was Chan feeling so restless?

It wasn't even like this album was coming to hand a lot easier than the other comebacks before. Quite the opposite, actually. Before today, the three producers of Stray Kids had to change 'Clè 1: MIROH', as they wanted to call the next album, a lot more often than they had first anticipated, always being sent back their demos with new details to improve on.

Chan should be glad to finally satisfy J.Y. Park and his sometimes ridiculously high standards, not that Chan's own standards weren't already impossible to reach. Still, looking at his computer screen with all the blinking and colorful bars on gray ground, there was an itching in Chan's fingers to continue working on MIROH till it was perfection.

Gentle fingertips began massaging his scalp and as Chan looked up, Jisung's worried face mirrored the exact sentiment Changbin had just given, just with a little more sympathy and patience. “Hyung is right and you know it, come on, the night is not waiting for us, we should get some sleep, all of us!”

As two-thirds of 3Racha already began to pack their things and shut down their working equipment, the oldest of the trio only slowly got up from his seat, almost unwilling to even leave the softness of the worn-out leather. Already leaving the studio so “early” was fairly uncommon nowadays, especially for Stray Kids' producer line. Chan just wasn't used to it, did not want to surrender just yet but not even bribing his two close friends with takeout on his expense seemed to persuade the others as they dragged their leader off into the streets.

It was only midnight when they left the office building to head back home.

 

The restlessness wasn't leaving his bones.

Chan knew that feeling all too well, knew that the other members repeatedly warned him about it, knew that they did not wish for Chan to keep himself awake on ungodly hours for _nothing_. But here he was. _Yet again._ Wide awake, Minho's slight grumbling under him in the lower bunk bed, Hyunjin and Seungmin silently sleeping on the other side of the room.

What to do? What to do? The thoughts in his head had started racing once more-

_What if the next comeback was a flop?_

_What if the fans didn't like MIROH at all?_

_What if the members weren't satisfied with the line distribution?_

_What if he disappointed all of them?_

…

_What if Chan never got over his crush on Woojin?_

And there it was again, that thought. That fear, that kept squirming in his head like a worm slowly eating away his brain cells.

Chan's imagination sprung around without him having any say and suddenly it wasn't just Stray Kids playing around in the dorm anymore, running and falling all over one another.

Suddenly they were all older. Lazing around on the dining area and front yard as some prepared for the barbecue dinner. Chan could see himself at the counter in the middle of the kitchen, trying to cut the meat without hurting himself. And then there were arms slinging around his waist. Woojin pressed himself against Chan's back, giving him a quick kiss at the juncture of the neck before resting his chin at the slightly smaller male's shoulder.

“Not like that.” The purr of Woojin's voice sends goosebumps up his spine. Woojin was taking Chan's hands in his own, big palms and long fingers guiding the knife a lot more gracefully than before. A giggle was heard, Chan couldn't believe it was his own voice making that sound, as the Chan of his imagination faced the Woojin of his imagination -only future Woojin could look even better than current Woojin did- and closed the distance between them. The innocent peck soon turned a little more heated-

_-_ and that was the moment Chan discarded his hopes of this evening's deep night slumber. No way _in hell_ would the Australian let himself fall asleep like that again! Another one of those dreams and the whole dorm would know of Chan's secret-not-so-secret attraction-apparently-turned-more-than-that. No way _in hell_ would he let that happen.

The bunk bed shook slightly as Chan first sat up, then climbed down the ladder. His movements were clumsy in the almost complete darkness of the room, which was only illuminated by a tiny slot of street light through the curtains. It was no use, trying to lay in bed and laze away the hours that Stray Kids' leader could use to be productive. Maybe he would just continue some work-in-progress or come up with something completely new. Who knows? It didn't hurt trying.

 

To Chan's surprise, when he stepped out the bedroom door and let it close behind him with a soft _'thud'_ , instead of more gloom, dim light greeted his vision. Dim, flickering light coming from the living room the hall down. Who was still awake at, the Australian squinted at his phone screen as his eyes adjusted to the glow, 2:14 am in the god damn morning?

None of the two figures, hunching over their controllers with an unnatural pose that could really not be good for their spine, became aware of their company as he stepped into the living room, too occupied by the two fighters moving on screen. Chan could only make out the backs from where he stood behind the coach but the stark outlines were enough to tell him it was his younger Aussie bro and, well, the guy of his dreams, literally.

“Guys?”

The audio setting of the TV was set very low, so when Chan's voice carried through the room, unfortunately a lot louder than intended, the two boys in front of him shrieked in terror, their head whipping around. Where else Woojin completely let go of the controller in his hands, Felix seemingly pressed some wrong button on his own device, letting his pink, ball-round character fall into the abyss.

“Fuck!” The youngest of the three cursed as he heard the telltale voice that announced his characters death and Woojin's win.

“Yet another win for me.” Woojin's surprised shock had turned into a sly grin as his gaze fixed on the TV again. “I guess you really can't beat me in 'Super Smash Bros', Felixie.” He singsonged as Felix whined about how he 'got distracted' and 'it wasn't a fair win' while throwing himself on top of the older. Woojin just circled his arms around the smaller frame above him, giggling like some school girl. Chan felt his insides curl and uncurl at the sight of the two cuddling, having already totally forgotten the third person in the room. The blonde felt guilty for how he came to _despise_ the way Woojin looked so comfortable to have Felix in his arms.

Why did the younger Australian always steal all of Woojin's cuddles? Or Seungmin too? And Hyunjin? And Jeongin and Jisung too? Why did literally everyone else get to have a cuddly and affectionate Woojin and here Chan was, sleep and _affection_ deprived because every time he so much as tried to have some 'WooChan' moment, Woojin always stood there like a statue just completely disregarding the second oldest' attempts. And even in front of the camera... Was the other '97 liner really too embarrassing to act fan service with?

“Why are you still awake? Go to sleep Channie!” The two oldest stared at each other for a few seconds before Chan's eyes focused into the present again. He blinked, then broke the intense eye contact in favor of studying the way the fluffy carpet wrinkled under his toes.

“I couldn't sleep.” Then a simple shrug, “The usual.”

“You should still try to rest more, I bet you wanted to work on some more songs right?” Woojin's gaze landed on the old, gray backpack sitting on the couch table. It was the backpack where Chan kept all his travel-sized work equipment, his other laptop, USB, mini keyboard etc.

Working through the lump in his throat wasn't easy with two expectant pairs of eyes on him. They all knew Woojin was right and there was no way denying it. “You guys are still awake too, at least I tried staying in bed for a few hours until I decided to come here.” But Woojin only gave the slightly younger Australian an unamused look, untangling himself from the limbs around him and standing up. “Goodnight, you two.”

Chan half expected the oldest to shove him into his bedroom again but the other only smiled at him, all warm and soft even if still with a look that said 'don't disappoint me again' before he walked out the room.

“What are you doing? We weren't finished here! You still owe me a third round!” Silencing the 18-year-old with a palm over his mouth, Chan only heard a murmur of “One of us has to be a good role model here.” before a click signaled the two men still standing in the living room that Woojin had, true to his words, gone to bed.

A couple of minutes there was nothing but the quiet ticking of the clock in the open kitchen to Chan's right side. Then Felix clapped the older boy's fingers away from his mouth looking disgruntled but also amused. Hands on his hips he dragged the 21-year-old on the sofa. “Just do your thing, man. I know we can't really stop you anyway, even if Woojin Hyung likes to think otherwise..” Then he stood up again, undocking the controllers and console, turning off the TV and coming back to sit next to Chan with his PSP already fixed on playing another game.

 

Instead of working on some projects on his computer, like Chan first intended too, he ended up with a pencil and his small old-school notebook on his drawn-up knees. Who would have thought his brain was able to produce actual lyrics at this hour of the night? The words and phrases spilled right unto the paper like the blonde had suppressed them for weeks till his skull finally exploded from overload.

But. Chan didn't dare look back at those phrases scribbled and smeared where the ink hadn't fully dried yet.

It wasn't like he was scared, but something told him, looking over those words again, realizing what his mind spit out, realizing what all of it may have meant too, it intimidated him. It always had, when his mind went to one of those places where the rhymes, where songs, where all his emotions just bleed on the pages in their rawest form.

Shouldn't a producer be proud when he was able to come up with so much feeling in just a few moments? Jisung was one of the few people, Chan had met, who could go to _those places_ and come back with the best songs of the album. Chan on the other hand, well...

Either way, as of this moment, he didn't dare think too much of what his hand was writing down before moving to his next thought. Maybe those last two pages that were filled in the last 10 minutes will all turn out to be rubbish anyway, or worse, they will just force him to look his inner demons right in the eyes when he couldn't even effort to pay them any attention.

The rustling of paper as the older Australian shut his notebook drew his younger friend out of his virtual bubble. “Done already?”

Felix's eyes reflected something behind his curiosity, a certain amount of awareness, awareness of what, Chan didn't try to find out. With a long stretch of his back and rolling of his shoulders, he snatched Felix gaming console away, shutting it down without even saving.

“Go to bed.” Came the mirrored words like Woojin's from not even a quarter of an hour ago.

“I thought you were the cool dad.” Felix pouted, for which he got a good clap on the back of his head because, dad? Really? The fans really set some weird thoughts in their maknae-lines heads these days, first the meme slash vine references and now this.

“I would like to see myself as the responsible older brother, preferably.”

“Don't you want to be Woojin Hyung's husband?” The question hit a little closer to home than his smaller teammate might have thought. Chan hung his head low, the warmth spreading on his cheeks. Woojin's husband, huh.

“Hyung would be a fantastic husband, if you don't want him, I'm gonna take him all to myself.” The laugh that escaped Felix' as Chan's head shot up, made the older once again question if his fellow Aussie maybe knew a little too much about his _'older brother's'_ current struggle.

“Fuck off, you already have Changbinnie and Hyunjinnie all to yourself, leave some for the rest of us, will you!” The two continued to bicker good-naturedly as they parted.

Everything was fine. Everything was going to be OK. Soon enough anyways.

 

Except, when Chan's eyes fly open the next morning, it is a Saturday and Stray Kids has the forenoon to themselves, the sudden feeling springs him that something wasn't going right as planned. Headphones already in hand, Chan is about to dive into a little daydreaming to calm his nerves before starting the day, when his ears finally pick up on muffled noises in the otherwise silence of the flat.

The hushed voices from what would probably be the living room were _more than a little suspicious_.

Where were the screeching and shouts of Jeongin and Minho? Where was the loud music playing where Changbin, Jisung and Felix had an unofficial singing battle at least once a day? There was no tired shuffling feet and occasional cursing of Hyunjin either, or no TV noises where Seungmin and Woojin would watch the news every weekend's morning. What was going on this early of the day? It wasn't Chan's birthday today, was it? No, it was still February, his birthday wasn't due in 8 months.

The metal of the ladder was cold against his bare feet but the wooden floor was cozily warm as Chan stepped out into the narrow corridor. Thank god for the underfloor heating of modern apartments.

Everyone was gathered in the living room indeed, just as predicted, leaning and reaching all over each other. Except for Minho, who sat on the other side of the couch, the tea in his hands still billowing faint fog and Woojin who was once again sitting on the single sofa ( _his_ single sofa) with slender fingers wrapped around his own mug of coffee. The oldest of the members was also the first one to see Chan over the others' frames.

“You slept longer than usual, I'm so proud of you!” The teasing words fell kind of short due to Woojin's smile not quite reaching his eyes. His expression was unreadable, maybe worried or disappointed even?-

“Hyung?!” When the seven other boys focused their attention to the still bleary-eyed blonde, Seungmin and Jisung took a few steps back from where they had peered over Felix's shoulder. They had stood the closest to Chan so when they stepped back, he was finally fully able to observe what was going on.

Felix sat on the sofa right where Chan had sat a few hours prior, Jeongin and Changbin were cuddling his side, Hyujin was leaning over the armrest, his chin resting on Changbin's chest. All the boys were peaking at whatever was in the honey blonde Australian's small hands-

Was that-?

“What are you doing with my notebook?” Confusion and defenselessness settled itself deep in Chan's stomach.

Felix immediately let the run-down journal fall from to his lap, though the pages were still open from where he accidentally dog eared them a little. “I- I swear I was just a little curious what you were so passionate about last night and- the binder was just laying there and- I'm so sorry- they all just gathered around me eventually, I didn't mean to-”

“ 'What if time can't solve this? I'll get caught if I just wait. I should do something, maybe I should tell everything.' Dude whatever inspiration grabbed you last night was really amazing!” Under Hyunjin's protests, Changbin frees himself from the taller male to approach his fellow rapper.

The big grin and hard clap on Chan's shoulder should suggest the other liked what he read. Which also means he knew a lot more about these lyrics than the writer himself since the Australian had already forgotten his rhymes the moment he had written them down last night. Hopefully, there were a few more of those useful ones.

“ 'Like a tunnel with no light, there's no end. I'm scared of my feelings bubbling over, of my mind to overflow with that emotion. Have I ever felt like this before? The warmth, the cold. The heat around me. Inside myself.' “ Jisung continues to read the lines scrawled perpendicular in the last corner of the page. “Hyung's right, they're so many good lines! Though..” And he looked a little apologetic at that, “Some of them sound a little bit too much like a summer romance turned bad, but yeah, we could easily change that impression to the current Stray Kids' feeling and voila.”

Seungmin is fast to jump up between them then. He throws Chan a quick but all-too-knowing look before putting his hands on his hips, like a mum who is ready to forcefully pull her child away from the candy shelves if she had to. “Why not write something like 'summer romance gone bad' for once?” He mimics Jisung's voice all too well, earning an offended 'hey' from said person. “Why always make it about society issues or self-pity? Not that I particularly have anything against those but- you know- If Chan Hyung wrote it down _like that_ , we should continue on that road.”

“Guys, listen...”

“Yeah, but that's also how songwriting works, you change stuff to adapt the sentiment to what kind you want to have. And I don't think Chan Hyung wanted a lovey-dovey song at that moment.”

“But what if- What if I wanted to have that precise feeling- Why not try something different for once?”

“Guys.”

“If with different, you mean, _generic pop love song_? Thanks but no thanks.”

“Seungmin, are you in love or something? Did you have a summer romance when you were on vacation a few weeks ago or why are you getting so defensive..?”

“First of all shut up, Minho, not every love song is a 'generic pop song'. And second, no I didn't, Hyunjin thanks a lot, I think I would've told you-”

“Wow look what I just found”, and now Jeongin was throwing himself into the mix as well, finger pointing at another page at Chan's _secret_ lyrics book, “ 'It's like my dreams, day and night. Just for a moment, burn away my thirst and I could feel lighter. Finally, meet me up at cloud 9' god damn, is it just me or does this suggest-”

“GUYS!”

Never before, had Woojin raised his voice. Woojin was never one to get loud, not like Chan or like Changbin. And even as the oldest of nine boys and men, he didn't even scold that much, always giving warm words of encouragement right after his signature serious straight to the point critics or lectures. Woojin was the person everyone listened too even without him having to become loud and 'dominant'.

That's why immediately after his small outbreak, everything was scared absolutely, dead silent. Even the world outside of Stray Kids' dorm seemed to have become still.

A sigh left Woojin's mouth, pulling his already slim lips into an even thinner line as he looked over the chaos in front of him.

“Channie.” Chan had always loved when the other called him that, it made his insides all warm and fuzzy. The belittlement of Chan's name made everyone in the room feel a little more relaxed, though, still, no one even dared to breathe too loudly.

Meanwhile, Woojin's eyes hadn't left Chan's since they locked onto the other. It was at that moment that the other '97 liner could finally read the expression on his face. The day hadn't even fully begun yet and Chan already felt like his world had ended.

Woojin crossed his arms in front of his chest as if the man had any reason to protect himself from whatever came next. Woojin wasn't the one who had to shield himself from potential questions about his love lyrics.

“ 'My smile appears at the call of a certain name, a sigh falls out. A maze of memories appears, the memories with him, of him only.' ” The comfortable silence thickens in tension once again as Woojin restates the last part, his eyebrows furrowing even more than even possible. “There are a lot of lyrics written, similar to that.”

“Channie.” And there it is again, “Is there anything you want to tell us? Anything at all that we should know about?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I NEED HELP!  
> As I've said in the notes at the beginning of the chapter, my art and writer's block is the worst it's been in a long time and well,  
> I NEED A BETA bc apparently I'm too dumb for the English language...  
> this is less about any vocab or grammar mistakes (even if I bet there are a lot of those uhum) but what I'm the most unsatisfied with is stuff like repetition or sentence construction aka syntax and it fucks me up so much... so yea, some native speaker or just someone with a better writing skill than I would be more than helpful :"((  
> if you're in any way interested to help a girl out you can dm me on ao3 or on https://oceanguym.tumblr.com I would really really appreciate the help  
> thanks for everyone that still reads this mess of a wannabe angst fic and hopefully we will hear from each other soon...

**Author's Note:**

> FIRST AND FOREMOST,  
> thank you for reading and maybe leaving a kudo or commenting and sending me tips if you liked what you read and want to have a continuation~ 
> 
> I know I have a lot of unfinished stuff that I already promised to post...  
> This story is pretty straight forward, no beating around the bush with Chan's sudden affection for a certain angel. But that's how it's supposed to be I guess. The story starts there at least for what I have planned.
> 
> Maybe you could share any idea that you have about what's going to happen, I'm curious to see how you feel about this, whatever it is, in the comments down below


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